More Than ‘ Tips’ Needed to Improve Energy Efficiency

Last month’s article, “Why Energy-Saving Tips Suck,” explained how most common energy-efficiency tips equate to superstition, not wisdom. Now let’s discuss how to really improve a home’s energy performance.The homeowners think their house is fat. You need to determine how fat and how much weight they want it to lose. You can put the house on a scale and establish a starting point: Monthly utility bills annualized, square footage, occupancy, and ZIP code are the key pieces of information needed to get a rough idea of what weight class a building is in. A list of problems, concerns, and appliances...